+- Ruins of Wildwood (https://relic-lore.net)
+-- Forum: Library (https://relic-lore.net/forumdisplay.php?fid=23)
+--- Forum: Game Archives (https://relic-lore.net/forumdisplay.php?fid=26)
+---- Forum: Relic Lore II (https://relic-lore.net/forumdisplay.php?fid=32)
+---- Thread: Heartleaf Creek this land is my land (/showthread.php?tid=2406)
this land is my land - Skittles - May 22, 2012
It felt like the skies were clear only a few moments before, but now that the sun wasn't so prominent amongst the water ripples, it was clear that the weather had changed. Like all things, change happened - sometimes slow, sometimes fast, but always to Skittles' own disliking. He disagreed with the reasons trees had to loose their leaves in the winter or even shed the ones that were falling off their branches. He disliked how his paws always seemed a little bigger and he especially was unenthusiastic about the fact that his body simply didn't feel as old as it was before. It was true, he could see it in his pelt and feel it in his energy levels. If there was anything that he didn't mind changing, it was the scenery, but only if it happened because of his own efforts. For example, if he put his paws in the mud, it would make sense and all would be fine and dandy if pawprints were produced. But if he tried with all of his might and his labor was in vain, then that would not make sense, and something would be gravely wrong with the world. Making mudprints was an important task that no wolf should ever neglect, whether a pup or an adult, the pleasure was always there. Or, for example, if he travelled, it would make sense that the trees whiz by him and the sounds of the old place fade out while the sounds of the new place rise in. But if he began to walk and nothing changed - the trees didn't move, and the place looked exactly the same, and even if he made sure to check if he was walking in place but was sure he wasn't, then, that would also be something very wrong with the world. In fact, that was an interesting scenario. What if he walked and walked and nothing changed? Would the world be stuck, would he be living, how would he eat, would he even need to? What if everyone were like that? Suck to walk in place wherever they were, all lonely like? It struck a chord with his current feelings, he did feel quite lonely, as if nothing he did here mattered and no matter how many feet he traveled, nothing really seemed to be very different, besides the scenery, of course.
Since he had gotten here he felt like he had only gotten bossed around. "This land me. Me. God. You. Pheasant. You starve, haha." seemed to be the general conversation that he always had. In truth, it was no different from any other land he had come across. But still, a man could only bear the attitude for so long before quickly becoming tired of it. Standing on the edge of the river, his paws were damp with the gurgles and splashes of the running water. There seemed to be enough prey to support a meager lifestyle, so... Why not claim this land for himself. As he gazed at the rushing creek, he gauged his bladder level. With a grim at his own cleverness, he set to work.
First stop, lifting a leg over the creek. That one didn't seem to work out too well, as the water simply carried his few drops of urine away. Undiscouraged, he marked the rock he had been standing on. The leaf a few feet away. A tree a few more feet away. Another tree. A low branch growing out of that tree, a pebble, a carcass... Oh, a carcass! He paused from his efforts and began to devour what was left of a mostly-eaten doe. After all, this was his land now, and he was half-way done marking it. Size meant nothing, after all, and this 100ft by 100ft circle-square thing of a very odd and irregular shape that he had made, it was his now. He was his own king, his own man, and for once, he was allowed to boss everyone else around, because it was his. Contentedly, he closed his eyes as he methodically worked the scraps of meat off of the bones, his mouth making contented eating noises of a peculiarly loud volume.
this land is my land - Pakuna - May 22, 2012
[dohtml]
[/dohtml]
Jaws were parted, tongue was lolling out in a heavy pant. The earthen female loped along, the scent of blood in her nose after taking the life of a fawn. She had brought it back to the cache of Copper Rock Creek, and decided to visit the creek itself for a drink and perhaps a swim. As the sound of rushing water entered her ears, the woman smiled, tail flicking happily. Creamy paws padded along the soil as she approached the water, head lowering instantly. Lapping greedily at the cool liquid, her left ear suddenly flicked at the sound of a crunch.
Pale green gaze flickering to the left, she observed a white wolf gnawing upon a carcass. By the scent, Pakuna could only guess that it was once a deer. Grunting, her nose crinkled at a potent odor that was hidden beneath the carcasses'. Urine? What the hell? Her nose remained wrinkled as she whipped her head around. Stepping forward, the scent only grew stronger. Did this wolf have a leak or something?
Her head raised as she approached the white wolf. "Aye, what be ye doin', pissin' all over the lands?" She asked, brow raising. It had seemed that was what he had done. She did not realize it until now- Pakuna walked into a ring of urine. How repulsive. What kind of nuts and bolts did this wolf have loose in his skull?
this land is my land - Skittles - May 22, 2012
He didn't really seem to notice when he had emptied the current area his mouth was located in of meat, What scraps of edible things there were left lay elsewhere, out of the two inch radius of his muzzle. Still he ate on, digging at bones and joints with his teeth, half just for the pleasure of gnawing on them and half out of laziness. It had been a long time since he'd had a proper meal and he was determined to relish every moment. The light still beat through his eyelids and the warmth of the day seemed to tingle on the tips of his fur.
With the sound of a voice, Skittles turned from the cumulus of second-hand meat, his eyes quickly widening in horror, his eyebrows moving away from his skull and his mouth yearning to scream. He managed a shout instead. "NOOOOOOO!", he howled aloud, his body now doing a half-dance of agitation, as if too afraid to move forwards yet disturbed enough not able to stand still, his feet moved this way and that while his position basically remained the same, plus or minus a few inches in any direction.
"Don't step on the ground! No touching it! You can't touch it ! You'll get your hair all over it and put footprints on it!", at last, he dashed forwards and extended his paw, attempting to sweep up the ground wherever she had stepped. He breathed a sigh of relief until he realized he hadn't actually cleaned all the foot prints - there were still the ones by this female, under her feet. He glared expectingly at her and made frisking motions with her paws, hoping she'd take the hint.
"This is my land, it's mine. No one can boss me around in my own land. So if I have bear and a skunk and a hive of bees chasing after me, the next person who says NO GET OUT RIGHT NOW OUR LAND!!!! I can just ignore them because this is my land and they can't boss me around! I'm tired of everyone bossing me around! Now this is my land! ", he insisted, squinting and shutting his eyes now and then, trying not to look at this wolf who was obviously a female by her lack of male appendages. If he didn't look at her, he realized that he could actually speak to her. Out of sight, out of mind?
Apparently, not quite. His skin still quivered with nervous agitation, though his tail drooped in a non-combative stance. It was a girl. The girl was still here. And she was still a girl. What if she wasn't a girl but an elephant? What was an elephant anyways? He held his eyes shut and tried to imagine the woman as a mysterious creature, whatever an elephant was, maybe with purple stripes and large wings with horns coming out of the wings and teeth all over? But how would it eat if it had teeth all over its body and not its mouth?
this land is my land - Pakuna - May 22, 2012
[dohtml]
[/dohtml]
Pakuna continued to stand where she was, although the wolf before her made a sweeping motion for her to step aside. How interesting. She was a patient woman, yes, but the way this wolf acted was going to be difficult for her to keep her cool. With a slight growl of irritation, she lifted her head upward, eyeing the creature as he proclaimed this land being his. "Ye know how many wolves walk through here, eh? Ye sayin' this is yer land be sayin' ye want yer pelt ripped off." Bringing her head back to normal level, her eyes narrowed at him. After he spoke, the white coated man held his eyes shut. What was he doing?
The pungent odor of his urine remained in her nose, and Pakuna was getting more on edge. Her paws gripped at the earth as she thought of what to say to this unique man. "Why don't ye join a pack then?" Oh lord. Given how this wolf was acting so far, what good would he be within a pack? And why wasn't he looking at her? Pakuna began to regret coming to the creek for a drink; this bizarre wolf was quickly ruining her day. She would try to be respectful, though, and understand where the man was coming from.
So obviously he had an issue with crossing into other packs' territories. Pakuna wondered if Skittles had stepped paw into Copper Rock lands- she had never seen nor heard anything of him before. One would have to at least possess the wits not to cross pack borders, right? Unless this wolf was just a natural trouble seeker; she did not know...
this land is my land - Skittles - May 22, 2012
He didn't really notice how peculiar her accent was until she started speaking more, but after a cock of his ears, he realized he had little problem understanding it. If he was different, why couldn't she be different as well? After all, it would be silly if everyone had the same pelt or voice, so he concluded that her way with words was different and novel and good. But he began to pout at the effect of them. "But everyone else does it...", he whined. "They say, "how DARE you trip over the border!" or "How DARE you sniff our border to check if it's a border, your nose crossed the line!" or "We're going to kill you because you ran through the territory and it doesn't matter that you were being chased by a mountain lion and didn't have time to sniff!" ", he breathed a large breath as if to speak more but subsided momentarily. "If everyone else does it, why can't I? Why can't I have this small area? I'm starving and no one cares...."
"Because they are all mean. I saw some wolves and the first thing they did was shout mean and nasty things in outside voices that shouldn't ever be said to anyone. The whole time they were inches away from fighting, and they wasn't even a real reason for it. "
'And because this other time I got chased into a territory and almost died and the first thing they said was "Get out. We don't care. Just get out." And this other time they said I had to leave because I wouldn't fit in and they disliked me and said I annoyed them."
"And the last time that I finally found a pack, everyone hated me and always shouted mean things to me. I did everything that they told me to do and I tried so very hard at everything. I marked the borders just like I was told, and I tried so hard that I made three rounds a day until my insides hurt from it. They never said 'good job Skittles' or 'How are you Skittles' . They all hated me and I was constantly in trouble but they never told me what I did wrong to deserve it. If someone was happy and they saw me, they'd instantly become extremely angry, just by looking at me. "
"That's why...."
"Please stop trying to look at me. You're a girl, I'm not supposed to look at you.", he muttered, trying harder than ever to avoid eye contact and at last resorting to staring at his feet.
this land is my land - Pakuna - May 23, 2012
[dohtml]
[/dohtml]
Pakuna was puzzled. She had certainly met quite the odd characters within her life, but he topped the list thus far. With a twitching smile, she shrugged her heavy shoulders. "Err...what be the diff'rence if I be a girl? Ye got problems with women, er somethin'?" Whatever this wolf's problem was, she would pay no mind to it. Not looking at her because she was a girl was...well, childish. Stepping forward, she brought out her neck, pale green gaze locked upon him. Her ears were forward, perked and listening. "What pack were ye in...Skittles?" She figured this was his name, for he used it in his distressed context over and over again.
The gruff woman suddenly turned away, padding with irritation out of this wolf's 'land'. The potent odor of his urine was beginning to subside, but standing within the disfigured circle made her rather uncomfortable. Besides, it seemed this Skittles character wanted her out of the 'land' anyway. Turning her head, she did not look at Skittles this time. She looked at the ground just before his paws. Perhaps, if she did this, he would feel comfortable enough to actually look at her. With silence claiming her, she stood like a statue, eyes locked on the ground.
It was his move. The brown toned woman expected more bizarre explosions of emotion from the ivory man. She was emotionally racking herself up for it. A question tickled her tongue: was it Copper Rock that he resided in? It couldn't have been....right? Not wanting to cause any more frustration within the man, she waited for him to speak on his own accord.
this land is my land - Skittles - May 23, 2012
He shuffled his feet around on the ground in a sudden moment of shyness. Glancing out of the corners of his eyes, he noticed that the woman was no longer looking at him. Relieved, his tail drooped in a relaxed comfort.
He thought for a moment about whether he should answer. Was he carrying on too long here? Feeling lonely and happy for the company, he decided to indulge her with professionalism. Dropping most of his childish antics, he was still. "Well, uhh.... girls have cooties. Everyone knows that. No one talks about this, but I figured it out for myself. They don't have the same pee-pee. How do they go and stuff? ", he mused aloud, his voice trailing with the wind, his words as slow as his thoughts. "I was taught that you're not supposed to look at a girl. I suppose it's disrespectful? This one girlfriend I had when I was really little, she got very upset if I ever looked at other girls or had to work with them. I wasn't allowed to talk to any other girls. She was nice.", he finished. His voice had cleared up to show some maturity
"No one ever told me what we were, but I think we were Male Leaf Forest. There was a single man, very strong, as the alpha. His daughter was a juvenile and was always mean to me. Mim was there. I loved her. But she died. So I left....."
"What about you! Who are you, where did you come from? How were you born, did the stork bring you? Do you believe in Santa Paws? What's yer favorite color? "
this land is my land - Pakuna - May 24, 2012
[dohtml]
[/dohtml]
More nonsense spewed from the muzzle of Skittles. Pakuna figured it would be best to play along. With her eyes still locked on the ground, she began to speak. "Came quite South o' here. Me pack split up; not sure why" This must have been the fifth or sixth wolf she's told this too, now. Sharing her story made her almost numb to it now. Her mind no longer wandered into wondering why the pack split. It had happened, and there was nothing she could or would do about it.
She turned away now, paws bringing her slowly toward the edge of the water. As she reached the edge of the slowly flowing water, she brought her head downward, eyes focusing upon her reflection. She was rough around the edges, that was for sure. Inside, though, she was a kind wolf, yet serious all at once. There was no pretty bow tied around this wolf. With this, she leaped forward, allowing her body to fall into the creek. A loud splash sounded, with the raining of droplets of water all about her. She did not care what the ivory man thought of her random actions, for he was random himself.
She paddled steadily in the water, swimming back toward the edge where she had jumped in. With a small smirk across her muzzle, she introduced herself "I be Pakuna."
this land is my land - Skittles - May 25, 2012
The woman's story was brief and he was able to listen with ease now, his ears fully adjusted to her manner of speaking. Like him, she too was not originally from this place. She seemed a little forlorn about the fact that her pack had disintegrated, but overall her appearance remained nonchalant, her movements as cool as running water.
Suddenly wanting a bath, she hurled herself into the lake like a dead body and began to treat the water, her fur spilling out into the alkaline waters below, the hairs moving individually yet also as a group, like a clump of seaweed serenely drifting in the tide. He looked at her and then back at his meat and made a quick decision as to which he wanted to do more.
"Skittles.", he murmured as he padded back to his food, once more taking hefty bites to stomach all he could. Truth be told he barely had the energy to swim and he was sure that the water would zap what strength he had left. He was starving to death, he had to eat. His mind began to drift, preparing for the food-induced slumber that would inevitably follow. He cringed at the thought of his manners and social skills, but talking did not fill a belly that had been rumbling for so long that it had begun to eat itself.
--fade out--